FEATURE Rural realities
Unimaginable pressure
Unite’s Cornwall rural bus drivers are facing deeply challenging times
Rural bus services have long been under pressure, with
underinvestment exacerbating the economic stagnation faced by many areas in the countryside.
But little is often reported on how these issues impact on rural bus drivers themselves, who, Unite branch
secretary for Plymouth City buses Stephen Lloyd said, are under an enormous amount of pressure.
“One of the biggest issues that rural bus drivers face stems from the fact that they are very much lone workers,” Stephen, whose members also include bus drivers in rural Cornwall, told Landworker.
“They are left all day, most days to cope not only with the absolutely treacherous road conditions that they have to drive through in Cornwall – but they also have to contend with having sole responsibility for that vehicle, for passengers, for the fares they collect, for everything. That amount of pressure is just on a totally different level – it’s unimaginable.”
Stephen said he believes abuse against bus drivers has increased over the last two years, calling the situation “absolutely shocking”.
“I’ve seen CCTV footage myself of situations that they’ve been in that’s brought to tears to my own eyes,” he said. “I can’t believe that employees can be treated so badly in work.”
Stephen, who has worked in the bus industry for more than two decades, said the bus driver role itself is “almost unrecognisable now”.
“Many years ago we had pastoral care, which would involve inspectors sporadically checking buses – we don’t have any of that level of support now,” he explained. “If there are, for example, fare discrepancies that need addressing, that’s down to the driver to correct.”
The pressure that rural bus drivers are now facing – no doubt one that’s increasing amid a rising shortage of bus drivers – has meant their mental health has taken a huge hit.
“Most of my working day now involves dealing with the mental health of our members in the workplace,” Stephen explained. “Even for me as a branch secretary, I’ve really struggled mentally just from seeing what people are going through.
28 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2022
“Representing our members as part of Unite, we have to deal with so many situations every single day. You’ve got bus drivers who walk into our office who are desperate because they’re, say, going through a divorce; they might have cancer or other serious health needs; or they’re even being threatened with eviction because they haven’t been able to keep up with their rent.”
Stephen agreed that rural bus drivers in particular have struggled with the cost of living crisis because their pay often hasn’t kept up with their counterparts in towns and cities.
“We’ve just been going through a pay talk now where we’ve had an issue with pay parity – bus drivers in Plymouth have always been paid a pound an hour more than the drivers in Cornwall,” he explained.
“The drivers in Cornwall face horrendous situations down there and we’ve long argued drivers should not get paid less for doing the same exact job – often under even more stressful conditions – just because they live and work in a different county. We’re all professional bus drivers working under the umbrella of the same
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